A Safe Supply of Drinking Water for 150,000 People

UNIHA Wassertechnologie GmbH with headquarters in Linz, Austria, has been awarded contracts for the construction of a total of six water treatment plants in Africa. For these contracts, UNIHA is now getting Lenzing GmbH (Austria) on board as a main supplier. Both companies together will therefore secure a safe drinking water supply for 150,000 individuals with about 23,000 cubic meters of drinking water per day. Work on the four plants in Ghana has shifted into high gear; groundbreaking for the two projects in Egypt is to follow soon. UNIHA has developed process engineering for all six water treatment plants, whereas Lenzing Technik has contributed detailed engineering and assembly services, key technological components and plant engineering worth a total of about four million euro.

Although all six plants will produce drinking water, the technologies used are completely different. In Egypt, the drinking water will be produced from seawater using the process of reverse osmosis, whereas in Ghana, it will be obtained from river water by flocculation and sedimentation. In both countries, and for two completely different approaches, UNIHA has won the biddings over international competitors. “If, for instance, we submit a bid that is higher in price than that of an Asian competitor, this must be clearly justified by our technological leadership”, emphasises Rudolf Ochsner, Managing Partner of UNIHA.